Sporidesmiaceae Fr., Summa veg. Scand., Section Post. (Stockholm): 504 (1849)

MycoBank number: MB 81405; Index Fungorum number: IF 81405; Facesoffungi number: FoF 01830; 188 species.

Saprobic on woody debris in terrestrial and aquatic habitats or mycoparasites. Sexual morph: Ascomata perithecial, scattered or solitary, immersed with neck erumpent through host surface, uniloculate, subglobose or ellipsoidal. Neck cylindrical, central or lateral. Ostiolum periphysate. Peridium three-layered. Paraphyses numerous, hypha-like, hyaline, septate, unbranched, persistent, embedded in a gelatinous matrix. Asci 8-spored, unitunicate, long cylindrical, apically rounded, with a distinct, relatively small, refractive, J-, wedge-shaped, apical ring. Ascospores obliquely uni- seriate, hyaline, fusiform, septate, with a thin sheath. Asexual morph: Colonies black, effuse. Mycelium comprising hyaline to pale brown, branched, septate, thin-walled hyphae. Conidiophores solitary or in clusters, single, or sometimes aggregated in groups, brown, cylindrical, straight or curved, erect or somewhat repent, septate, smooth-walled. Conidiogenous cells monoblastic, holoblastic, terminal, cylindrical, brown, elongating once or twice percurrently at the apex. Conidia dry, solitary, medium brown, smooth, obclavate to cylindrical or fusoid, straight to flexuous, apex obtuse, base obconically truncate, smooth-walled.

Type genus – Sporidesmium Link

Notes – Sporidesmiaceae was introduced by Fries (1849) and has received very little usage. Presently, there is only one genus accepted in this family. Shenoy et al. (2006) found that Sporidesmium and morphologically similar genera are not monophyletic, as they are distributed among different families and orders in Dothideomycetes and Sordariomycetes. Su et al. (2016b) reported similar results. A monophyletic clade with species resembling the type species of Sporidesmium was designated as Sporidesmiaceae sensu stricto, and a new family Distoseptisporaceae was introduced to accommodate a new sporidesmium-like genus Distoseptispora (Su et al. 2016b).

Genera